Dear reader, online ads enable us to deliver the journalism you value. Please support us by taking a moment to
Opposition piles on the agony for govt
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Asad Umar on Wednesday presented the second mini-budget of the six-month-old Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government amid the opposition’s uproar during the National Assembly session marked by a rare presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The prime minister, who was last seen in the assembly on Oct 3, entered the house at a time when Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif was lambasting the federal and the Punjab governments over handling of the Sahiwal incident.
“Imran Khan had himself stated in the past that the then Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif should resign and the then home minister Rana Sanaullah should be arrested [over the police action in Model Town]. Now according to his own words, first the prime minister should submit his resignation and then (Punjab Chief Minister) Usman Buzdar should resign,” Mr Sharif said, amid desk-thumping by the opposition members.
Shahbaz asks PM, Punjab CM to resign over Sahiwal tragedy; Imran attends NA session after hiatus of over three months
Mr Sharif regretted that despite announcements by the provincial and the federal ministers, the report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted to probe the Sahiwal tragedy had not been presented before the house.
The opposition leader challenged the claim made by the Punjab ministers that for the first time in the history of Pakistan, police officers had been removed from their office within 72 hours of an incident and recalled that a number of police officials had been removed from their posts on the night of the Model Town tragedy in 2014 when he was the chief minister. He said that instead of constituting a JIT, he had formed a judicial commission under a high court judge to investigate the matter.
Moreover, he said, Rana Sanaullah had voluntarily submitted his resignation from the office of home minister within days after the Model Town tragedy.
Mr Sharif said Mr Khan had nominated a person as Punjab chief minister who could not speak without his permission.
He also taunted the prime minister for attending a National Assembly sitting after more than three and a half months, and called him “the selected prime minister”.
Instead of the prime minister, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi responded to Mr Sharif’s speech, alleging that by raising the Sahiwal issue on the budget day, the opposition leader had violated the understanding that had been reached between the treasury and the opposition members in a meeting presided over by Speaker Asad Qaiser before start of the sitting.
Mr Qureshi said the government did not intend to protect any police official involved in the Sahiwal killing of innocent people. He said the JIT had declared that Khalil and his family members were innocent and they were murdered. However, he said, the JIT had sought time to conduct more investigation about Zeeshan, the fourth victim of the CTD encounter.
“No responsible person will go unpunished,” Mr Qureshi declared, saying the government had decided to hold the trial of the Counter Terrorism Department officials in an anti-terrorism court. Pledging fair and transparent trial, he promised that all the “facts” about the incident would be brought before the nation.
Later, the finance minister presented the Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill 2019 and delivered his budget speech which could not be heard clearly in the galleries due to the opposition’s noisy protest.
Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2019
Comments (25) Closed
You mean the corrupt trying to put their agony on the government...
Did he resign after model town tragedy which was many times worse....do these politicians have any shame.
I say to Shabaz Sharif and his cronies - keep having wishful thinking and did he resign after the model town incident when 14 innocent people were shot cold blooded? In my view, both PMLN and PPP and their leaders are in deep waters and trying to get out of it through different means.
What a farce,this is opposition for the sake of opposition.What did he do as CM Punjab on Model town issue? Nothing,these are gutless politicians.
Stop complaining Shahbaz, You did nothing for the masses.
What goes around comes around!
pti is a case of weak leadership they have so far not been able to deliver what was promised i don’t see any improvement on any front
Sure, why don't you hop into a time machine and go back and resign over the APS and Model Town incidents?
Opposition does not mean, keep opposing the govt policies, have to work for people, elected by them.
@Anti-Corruption_Pakistani, SS did not resign but has right to demand resignation from PM and CM because this is what IK did whole 5years of previous governmenr.
In a democracy prime minister is answerable to the National assembly.
I bet he would entertain the thought to ‘resign’ just as soon as you and your lackeys resign over the Model Town case and the Saaf Pani and numerous others.
Who cares what shahbaz/zardari says they have so much corruption baggage...we have seen in last 10 years every institution of gov was destroyed by these mobs wait couple of years and real tangible progress will start happening for the masses
Shabaz belongs in Kot Lakhpat or Adyala. He is guilty of 14 unprovoked murders and injuring 100 hundred.
police action that was done on behalf of Nawaz Sharif and killed several more people. If Nawaz Sharif didn't resign then Shahbaz Sharif has no right to demand the same from Imran Khan
Shahbaz Sharif is a wanted shameless man. He needs to be expelled from the National Assembly
How a Suspect in the mega corruption scandal, coming from arrest to attend the proceedings thinks that he can be taken seriously? Shouldn't he himself resign? This is the Thinking that doomed Pmln and PPP
Both brothers, Shahbaz, Nawaz, had luxurious life at the cost of common people, who elected them, with false promises, that they would change their lives, instead, changed their lives, buying properties.
Empty vessels sound much .
Shabaz should resign.
Did you resign me Shabaz. Model Town murders were under your direct orders. Sahiwal killings were done by your police, hand picked by you. You are the symbol of corruption and mafia.
PPP and PML-N were united against mohajirs when these courts works in Karachi but they do not want these courts to act against them.
PM IK did not sanction the killing of an innocent family. However heads should roll of the IG of Police, Punjab.
@Khan , The opposition has thwarted any constructive attempts by PTI. Even during the last budget session, a lot of them acted as street trash hooligans.
Majority of the opposition has made N. League or PPP as their Lords and are scared to express their own views. We need a presidential system with a strong and honest center, since the parliamentary system has bred a lot of corruption by those in authority. The only meaningful development that Pakistan ever saw was under President Ayub Khan (may he rest in peace). Among many other great projects, this includes Islamabad, Mangla and Terbela dams. US Dollar was worth Rs.3.80.
@Tariq, Lahore, no one would sanction the killing of a family.. but someone in punjab government must have given okay for this operation, either cm or law minister, if they didnt know about it then that is even more negligent.. i agree that cm and law minister should resign, i also felt shabhaz sharif and rana sanaulla should have resigned over the model town massacre.